Tuesday, February 19, 2008

So I had a bad day...chili bowl update

Mad Monday report will have to wait until Wednesday!

Wednesday I did my first Body Sculpting Class at Rezults, my new gym.

It was lots of weights, squats, and reps. We did these squats that we sat on our step with 2 risers underneath and stood up, squeezed in our uppper body, then squatted down for 3 low squats before sitting down and repeating. We did this several times and I knew I was going to have sore legs.

Thursday I woke up so sore that I struggled to walk downstairs. I ran my 5 miles on the treadmill and my les just felt like dead weight. Even the owner commented that I was limping when I got off the treadmill. (Limp was my hip flexor which is a whole other issue....more on that later!)

Friday I woke up even more sore than I was Thursday and subsequently opted for a REST day. That evening as my husband and I did some shopping I struggled to keep up with him walking as I limped around.

Friday night I knew I was in trouble for the Chili Bowl the next day. My quads had the feeling of shin splints with deep pain underneath the muscles. Before I went to bed I started trying to massage some Biofeeze into my muscles, hoping that may help.

Yet I awoke Saturday still in pain. I rubbed on some Body Glide warm Fx hoping it could help.

I drove the the race and it was a chilly morning at 15 on my car, but there was beautiful sun out and it was dry so I was OK with that.

After getting my packet and chatting for awhile I went outside to warm -up. However the cold made me feel like I had to go to the bathroom before the race so I cut my warm-up short to go inside and wait in line to go to the bathroom. The bad thing was I really needed to warm up those tight muscles and now that was not going to happen.

I lined up at the start wondering how much this would aggitate me. With the start I was off.

Everything felt so tight. We took off over a bridge with an incline and I could already feel my legs yelling at me. Yet as I hit mile 1, the clock read 6:22. Not too bad, but I would later find out it was short.

As I continued on in Ohio City I really started thinking that I wanted to stop. My legs ached terribly and had just given me the bird and said, "Slow down or else!" I listened and I started to get passed left and right.

As I hit the second mile marker I felt defeated when I looked at my watch and saw 7:50. How in the heck is this pace hurting me so bad?

I finally got to the bridge where the uphill grade continued to bury my brick legs and I watched as people (who I usually beat) continue to pass me. As I pushed on waiting for my suffering to end, I ran the final mile in 7:36 for a total time of 22:46. I did not see anything over 20:45 last year (and my December 5K was 20:18) and this was disappointing to say the least.

Yet, I knew going in that I was not ready to race that day, so much so that even as much as I physically was not ready due to the leg pain, I was not there mentally either for the same reason. As I sit here Tueday and type this up my quad soreness is gone. I needed a couple more days! No more hard lower body workouts within 4 days of a race anymore!

QUIT READING IF YOU ARE TIRED OF MY EXCUSES, BUT I RATIONALIZE A LOT!

Another issue I have been dealing with is my piliformis and hip flexor which are also severerly flared up. This was also an issue before the race and after limping around last week, I finally made it to the ART doc last Thursday. I sat on the table and started to sweat as the pain deep in there was just horrible when he tried to work it out. I find that I can run through the piliformis pain but the hip flexor hurts everytime I move my left leg forward. I may need to see the doc more often, stretch even more and back off a bit until it calms down.

As I ran that race Saturday all I could think is that my legs are killing me in so many different places and I could not even tell ya what hurt the worst. Blah, this is not the way to start the year. Yet, I think it is not so much my fitness and perhaps next race I will go out and run respectable race for the standards I set for myself and that I just had a bad day due to all the leg issues.

So for now #1 goal is to fix my body! Now is the time. Then I can go back to worrying about my original goals such as running faster!

8 comments:

Brian said...

Maybe you need to chill out for a week or two to heal up. Stick to the swimming and some light weights. I'm sure you'll get those times back down once you're healed.

Yesterday I did squat jumps with weights and am really hurting today.

tracie said...

*HUGS*

I totally feel your pain. Seriously, the hip flexor and piliformis are bothering me too.

Rest up some more and I'm sure you will be back out there with times better than before! :)

Brett S. said...

You also managed to get in the 50k a whole three weeks ago without missing a beat or any letup. Give yourself a few weeks to recover.
Plus new gym and new class means new movements and unusual workouts. Always harder then the same old right.

Give the legs some time to heal and enjoy being a hot chick.

Anonymous said...

Go to Dick's and get the Foam Roll by GoFit, $26. You roll your legs on it and get a deep tissue. Your pain will be gone. TK

triguyjt said...

rest up and remember, you can run at a very fast clip..so your rough day or so called tough time is moving quick for many people. i know that doesnt make the problem go away, but it can illustrate how far you have come.
i have gone through those leaping squad kinda workouts and they are just killer..so maybe you raced too close to that kinda workout.
as always...good luck

Dana said...

Take care of those legs & they will take care of you!

solarsquirrel said...

So you ARE human afterall!!
:)
Don't worry - we all have bad days sometimes. At least you didn't have a bad race for something that you trained months for - oh wait - that was me!

LoveOfShoes said...

Hey there- total lurker here. Been reading for awhile, just took the plunge with my own blog and am slowly coming out of the wood work.

I wanted to warn you to take care of your hip flexor ASAP. If it is not feeling better after a few weeks or rest and ART, please get it checked out....I ran through what I thought was a strained hip flexor for two weeks, and it has turned out to be a Femoral Neck Stress Fracture. But I could have put my money on it being a hip flexor or groin injury at the beginning. Be careful and take care of your body!